For the second year, UW-Platteville and UW-Madison are co-sponsoring a ten-session refresher course via compressed video, for individuals preparing to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. The exam is one of the steps in achieving registration as a Professional Engineer. The refresher course originates in the distance education room on the UW-Platteville campus, with each of the 2-hour sessions facilitated by a UW-Platteville faculty member in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science. There are 17 participants in the course, at three sites: Platteville, Madison and LaCrosse.

The course was developed because UW-Platteville has had an outstanding track record in preparing engineers for the FE exam. We wanted to provide participants with access to instructors who would answer specific questions and help solve problems, unlike the videotaped series available through other sources. The pacing of the ten sessions - one two-hour session each week - gives participants more flexibility than a traditional one- or two-day workshop, with time between sessions to review and assimilate the material.

The evaluations we received from 1997 participants indicate they were pleased with the educational experience and with the technology that enabled them to participate in a program they would not otherwise have had access to.